Improvement in lamp-wick tubes



a. D. Laws, or BRIDCEPCRT, CONNECTICUT.

Letters Patent No. 75,281, dated Imtech-10, 1868.

IMPROVEMENT IN LAMP-WICK TUBES.

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Be it Aknown that I, D. LAWS, of Bridgeport, of Fairfield county, in the State of Connecticut, have invented `certain new and useful Improvements in Lamp-Burners; and I do hereby declare that the following is .a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part'o` this application.

My invention relates to that kind of lampburner tube which is adapted to receive and hold a dat wick, such as used generally in kerosene-lamps, and which are made usually of brass.

Previous to my invention, it was customary, in the manufacture of this k'ind of lamp-tube, to take a piece of sheet metal, and draw it through a die into a tubular form, something after the fashion of making cartridgetubes, and afterwards flatten and finish it; and lately this kind of dat brass burner-tubes .for-lamps has been made by taking a piece of sheet brass, ,cutting out two of its opposite edges in scallops, or aft-er the fashion of gear-teeth,` and then bending it-around a flat mandrel or bar, in Asuch a manner as to have the scallops interlock along one edge of the finished tube. l l

The labor and expense of manufacturing burner-tubes for flat-wick lamps by drawing them down have been so great as to lead to many experiments for the` purpose of finding some way of more economically making a tube'which would answer equally well the purposes of the drawn tube; and the method just mentioned, of bending a piece of sheet bra-ss round a mandrel, has been practised to considerableextent, andwith advantagein point of economy, but it has been found in practice that the tubes thus made are not-suiciently strong and rigid where the interlocking edges come together, andthat the zigzag joint made `is apt to open more or less,

and permit the leakage of oil from the wick, which is an objection in their use.

Myinvention has for its object to avoid the expensive* process or mode of drawing the tubes, and, at the' same time, in an economic manner, producel a tube which shall be suciently rigid atall points, and in which the joint shall be tight; and to these ends my invention consists in a lamp-burner tube adapted to receive a fiat I wick, formed of a plain piece of sheet metal ben-t round into the proper shape, with its edges overlapped along the curved edge of the burner, as will be presently more fully explained.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe my new burner tube, referring by letters to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is an elevation of a flat burnertube made according to my invention, and

Figure 2 is a cross-section of the same.v

The tube when completed (as seen) is of the usual shape, with the or the device for feeding the contained wick is applied.

To form a tube such as shown, I shear` off a plain piece of sheet brass, rectangular in contour, and bend it around a mandrel Aor former, ofthe proper shape, in such a manner that the opposite overlapped edges will over-- lap each other to an extent about equal to the thickness of the burner, (that is to say, during the entire width of the edge of the tube,) as clearly seen at c, and so as to make a close joint, comparatively.

It will be seen that, by bending each edge of the piece of brass over, as shown, and overlapping them, that edge of the fiat tube where the edges of the piece come together, at c, is rendered about as strong as Athe other edge, cl, of the tube; and it will be understood that, inasmuch as the joint -between the overlapped portions extends the whole width of the tube the narrow way, the oil cannot readily escape through it from the conf tained wick. l

It will be seen also that, inasmuch as the overlapping portions are curved and equal in width about to the thickness of the burner, the inner edge will bear against the internal surface of the burner while it is braced by the outer curved edge, and that thus the burner is rendered comparatively rigid and very strong.

My new tube is, of course, adapted to the same uses as and is similar in shape when nished to the flat burner-tubes now made. It does not involve in its manufacture so much labor and expense as either the drawn tube, or a tube made by bending round a mandrel a piece of sheet metalpreviously scalloped out on two of its edges, but is equally as durable and as well adapted for use as any dat lamp-tubes heretofore made.

It may be remarked that, in the manufacture of these flat tubes with the scalloped edges interlccked, considerablc expense is incurred in the employment ofthe cuttingout tools, and their wear and tear, while, in the dinary openings-at a b, through which manufacture ot Hat tubes according to my invention, it is only necessary to shear o the plain pieces'of sheet brass, andbencl them round into shape, no machinery or expcnsive,tools, which require frequent renewal, being necessary.

I am aware that lamp-tubes have been made by bending round a piece of sheet metal, and I am aware that, in making a. lamp-tube of a piece of bent sheet metal, the latter has had its edges overlapped and seamedf I do not, therefore, claim broadly either making a lamp-burner tube of sheet metal bent round into shape, nor

overlapping the detached edges; but, having so explained my invention that those skilled in the art can make and use it,

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is- A flat lamp-burnervtube, or lamp-burner tube adapted to the use of flat wicks, formed of a piede of sheet metal bent round and overlapped along the whole edge, substantially as herein shown and described.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto sot my hand and seal, this 24th day of January, 1868, p

v A; D..LAWs. [in s.)

Witnesses:

D` H. HARD, ANDREW BURK. 

